Akhmed Zakayev, the fugitive Chechen separatist leader, an actor who turned to politics after serving as a field commander in the civil war, is accused by Russia of terrorist crimes including the murder of 300 people.

He was bailed to a secret address in London, after the judge at Bow Street magistrates' court was told that as a leader of the rebel government in exile, his life and that of his family could be in danger.

At a press conference later in the Covent Garden Hotel, central London, Zakayev, 43, called on the European Union to intervene to stop bloodshed in Chechnya by forming a peace-keeping force along the lines of that in operation in Kosovo.

The Chechen envoy vigorously denied all 10 charges laid against him by President Vladimir Putin. These include the murder of two priests, one of whom is alive and well in Moscow, and the killing of 300 Russian militia in Chechnya in August 1996.

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Sitting beside Redgrave, who has put up a £50,000 surety to secure bail for her friend, Zakayev, known as Chechnya's Laurence Olivier, said: "Let's have a lie detector. I can put my hand on the Koran and swear that none of the accusations in that charge sheet [from the Russians] have any foundation.

"None of the things which I have been accused of have I ever committed."

Zakayev, a signatory to several Chechen peace agreements with Russia, said he placed faith in the justice system in Britain - "the leader of the democratic world" - and was optimistic that he would not be extradited.

He experienced that justice system for the first time yesterday. Zakayev filed into court with an entourage that included Redgrave, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP, and human rights activists.

Gareth Peirce, his solicitor, said: "The history of this case is that Mr Zakayev is here in this country following repeated requests by the Russian government, making accusations of a wholly false nature."

In his position as a "leader of the Chechen government in exile", her client was in a "peculiarly exposed position".

In three pages of charges, the Russian government claimed that the Chechen leader was responsible for terrorist offences dating back to 1995.

Zakayev has lived in Britain with his family, as a guest of Redgrave, since January. In October he travelled to Copenhagen to lead a human rights conference on Chechnya but while he was there Chechen terrorists took over the Moscow theatre. In the days after the siege the Russian Federation issued an international extradition warrant for his arrest.

Held in Copenhagen for five weeks, he was released last week when the Danish justice minister said the Russian's had provided "insufficient" evidence against Zakayev.

Redgrave, who has championed the Chechen cause since 1999, made a public defence of her friend by swearing on oath to put up a £50,000 surety yesterday.

Asked by the judge how she would fund the money if Zakayev absconded, she said: "It's in my bank account."

Appealing to the West to intervene in Chechnya, Zakayev said: "This is not about me. What I am defending is the right of the Chechen people to life."